Recession Causes Higher Individual Health Insurance Rates In More States

consumers with less money to spend would cause insurers to lower their premiums to attract more businesses. However, the health insurance industry is unique in that regard. In some respects, their costs are relatively fixed. Healthier people are more likely to drop their individual health insurance policies or switch to Health Savings Accounts and high-deductible health insurers plans with lower premiums. The people that keep their comprehensive health insurance in those circumstances tend to be those in worse health. Unhealthier people continue to use medical care. It costs health insurance companies money to fulfill their claims, while they are losing the more profitable individual health insurance consumers that generated income while using relatively small amounts of health care.

As a result, Oregon and Maine insurers–along with individual health insurance providers from California–have to increase their prices to maintain profit margins. Despite job losses, the employer-based group health insurance market has seen less volatility in sales. That, in addition to the larger risk pool that allows health insurers to spread costs, means that their rates have increased as significantly as those for individual health insurance.

What are the state health insurance regulators doing about this? Some states have no authority in the matter; they can negotiate with a health insurance company and plead with them to lower the level of proposed increases, but